Canada pledges Great Lakes cleanup

By MARTIN MITTLESTAEDT
Friday, March 23, 2007

The Ontario and federal governments say they hope to clean up four of the 15 most polluted sites on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes by 2010.

Under a proposed agreement between the two governments, details of which were published in the Canada Gazette, Ontario and Ottawa say they intend to remediate Jackfish Bay and Nipigon Bay in Lake Superior, along with Wheatley Harbor on Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall _ sites that have been polluted by decades of abuses, such as the dumping of industrial waste, poorly treated municipal sewage, and agricultural run off.

If achieved, the cleanup would mark a major milestone in improving the water quality on the Great Lakes, the world's largest body of fresh water. The governments have been trying to restore to relatively good health pollution hot spots along the connecting rivers and shores of the lakes since identifying a list of 17 of the most contaminated areas the mid-1980s.

But over the nearly two decades of work, they have made only halting progress and managed to fund the complete cleanups of only two of them, both in Georgian Bay.

The governments are now hoping for a quicker pace of action.

Federal Environment Minister John Baird said in a statement that the deal between the two governments "reflects our commitment to pursue practical, results-oriented solutions to reduce pollution."

According to the proposed agreement, the governments also say they want to "make significant progress" toward restoring the other 11 badly polluted sites, which include problem areas such as Hamilton Harbor, the Niagara River and Toronto Harbor.

Areas are deemed to have been cleaned up when they've been returned to relatively pristine condition, and can be used for swimming, provide habitat for fish, and no longer have large industrial or municipal wastewater discharges.

Of the four areas slated for recovery by 2010, the most difficult is likely to be the St. Lawrence River around Cornwall, which has been polluted by mercury, PCBs and other contaminants, and has residues from these substances in its water, sediments and fish.

"That would be good if they could clean that site up," said Sarah Miller, a water-quality expert at the Canadian Environmental Law Association. While environmentalists generally laud cleanups, Miller says that the slow pace of action since the 1980s has meant the problem areas identified two decades ago have been overshadowed by new threats to the Great Lakes, such as the invasive species arriving in the ballast water of ocean-going ships, and worries that global warming could cause water levels to plummet.

One of the actions Ontario wants to undertake is to work with municipalities to divert from garbage consumer products containing mercury, such as thermostats and fluorescent lamps.

Mercury releases in Ontario have fallen by 86 percent since 1988. The governments want to raise that figure to more than 90 percent by 2010. The proposed agreement is open for public comment until mid-May. The governments intend to implement it later this year.